Karen Schaich B.Sc., Sc.D.

Karen Schaich holds a BS in Interdisciplinary Science/Food Research from Purdue University and an Sc.D. in Food Chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where she began her career focus oxidative degradation of foods and biological systems. She then spent 14 years in the Medical Dept. at Brookhaven National Laboratory studying Electron Paramagnetic Resonance methodology and free radical reactions in toxicology before joining the faculty in Food Science at Rutgers University and redirecting her research to lipid oxidation, protein oxidation, and antioxidants in foods. Her current research encompasses multiple alternate mechanisms of lipid oxidation; mechanisms, products, and consequences of protein co-oxidation; electron spin resonance analyses of free radicals to foods; development of improved assays for quantitating lipid oxidation; isolation and application of natural antioxidants from unused biological materials; and evaluation, development, and standardization of antioxidant activity assays. She teaches an undergraduate course and laboratory in Principles of Food Science and graduate courses in Food Chemistry and Lipid Chemistry. She has received numerous awards for her teaching and is a Fellow of the Institute of Food Technologists.